PROMEDIO is a public consortium in charge of the environmental management of the province of Badajoz (Spain) and manages also collection of municipal waste. Wellness Telecom (a private company specialised in innovative solutions) and PROMEDIO implemented a project in the province of Badajoz to monitor 50 bins for 12 months, using electronic sensors to record bin weight at collection. The study revealed the following:
- only 20 % of bins have a fill rate high enough to require weekly collections;
- 18–20 % of bins are collected with a content below 40 % to 50 %;
- 75–80 % of bins are collected at least once a year with a content below 40–50 %.
From these findings, Wellness Telecom proposed the following measures to PROMEDIO:
- Identify a list of bins that need to be collected weekly due to a higher service demand. Reorganise collection site locations and enhance service availability, with additional bins in nearby locations.
- The rest of the bins should be collected every two weeks.
This has provided provide a basis for further optimise collection routes and frequency, saving in fuel and human resources. Continued monitoring of bin fill level through use of a simple electronic tool (“e-Garbage”) is proposed to identify full bins requiring earlier collection. Expected savings in fuel are around 5 000 litres per year, whilst workforce savings are in estimated to be 40–50 %, switching from weekly to fortnightly collection.
Source: Wellness Smart Cities and Solutions (2015).